Picked up my TV-18 on Friday

[Jan Van Bennekum]

I picked up my boat on Friday and am all ear-to-ear grins. Can't wait for the weather to improve so I can break-in the engine.



I want to thank all who participate on this board. This is my first boat and the info I found here helped me in my decision to buy the boat. I have also been using the search function for any keyword I can think of. I'm suffering from information overload.



Does anyone use the safety strap to secure the boat to the trailer? The fellow who gave me the walk around didn't know what to do with it. You can't fit both the hook from the strap and that from the winch onto the boat bow eye. He wound up hooking one to the other. I didn't see where that served any purpose.



I am really low on the learning curve and am a bit uncertain about how to trim. I have read a lot of messages but don't have a sense for how much? Are you talking about small changes, taps on the trim switch, or large changes? Are there some rules of thumb of how to change speed and trim when turning, slowing, coming off plane or stoping?



I'll be doing a lot of solo fishing and hope to have a lot of experiences to share and questions to ask.



Again thanks for all your help.



Jan

 

[Marke Cicero]

Jan,

Congrats on the boat. I'm starting season number 2 with my TV-18 w/ 90hp and I love every minute of it. You should feel good about purchasing the best Aluminum rig Tracker has to offer.



What size engine did you get?



Trimming the engine is easy in this boat. It doesn't take much at all. What I do is: When I'm driving I look straight ahead and I can see water breaking off the bow in my peripheral vision. I trim the motor up just until I can no longer see the splash when looking straight ahead. You will also feel the sweet spot because all of a sudden it will feel like you flying and the ride is so smooth.



When turning: If it's wide turn and I have plenty of time and room to make it, I'll stay up on plane with motor trimmed up. If it's a tight turn, I'll trim back down and slow down a little. If there's trouble and risk of collision, then obvioulsy throttle way back and go slow.



Just start off slow, take your time and be careful. The boat will tell what she likes and don't like. Practice and experience is all you need.



Have fun,



Marke

 

[Bill McElroy]

Congrat's on the new boat!! Nice Choice,..there's a LOT of TV-18 owners here and they're ALL happy with them!! When you take the boat out,..take your time and get comfortable with all the gauges, switches, livewell switches et..etc...there's not that much to learn and you'll have a blast, but take your time and go over and through everything thouroughly...it'll eliminate potential problems later!!(Don't forget to wear your life jacket EVERYTIME you start the big motor,..make it a habit!!) As far as learning how to trim,..your boat will handle differently as far as how much to trim and when, because it's aluminum and lighter than my 901. But basically all the principals are the same. Start out with the motor trimmed Down all the way...don't rely on your gauge until you've turned around and verified that your motor is all the way down...sometimes the gauges are off a little bit. Anyway,..when you push your throttle forward to take off, push it all the way down and at the same time,..use your thumb to operate the trim...as you accelerate, keep your thumb on the trim until you feel the boat get up on plane and you see the bow begin to rise up. The boat will become

very easy to steer and at that point you can add additional throttle until you're going full speed. Now is the time to play with the trim and learn what it does as you accelerate and feel the boat perform while on plane. When you want to come down off of plane,...do just the opposite,...trim "down" as you slow down and it will keep your boat from "porposing" which is when the bow will go up and down and up and down and you'll feel like you're on a roller coaster. That's normal until you get use to your boat and learn how to avoid it. ....but practice make perfect, and by the 3rd or 4th time you're out,..you'll be a pro!! Just keep in mind,..."Trim up while accelerating and whenile your on plane,...when your boat is running and steering with minimal effort,..that's perfect"...When you want to slow don and come off of plane,..trim "Down" slowly while you decellerate and you'll glide right into the perfect pocket with no wave over the back! (hopefully,..LOL)...but relax,..don't get paranoid and/or frustrated,...you'll be a master in no time!! Enjoy the boat,..you picked a GOOD one!! Holler back if you have any more questions. Enjoy

Mac

 

[Rich D]

Jan,



Congratulations! I cannot help with the trim, but I strongly suggest using the safety strap. It is tight, but both the winch and safety straps should be able to connect to the eye. I had a winch strap break once and that kept my boat from sitting on the highway! It is also insurance should you accidentally disengage the winch crank!



Rich D

 

[Marke Cicero]

Oops I forgot to mention the safety strap!!



Jan, they do both fit, you just have to come in at the right angle with the safety strap. Play around with it and you'll get it.



And Mac made a good point about the trim gauge. Don't rely on it. There is no spot on the gauge that will tell you when you're trimmed properly. You will learn to feel it, become one with the boat grass hopper.



Marke

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Hi Jan!



Another satisfied TV-18 owner here...

I have the same boat/motor combination as Marke...

Anytime you have any questions, feel free to fire 'em our way...we love to talk about our boats!!!



az

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Congrats on the boat. I rode in Marke's and was very impressed. Now tow it to the rally! Also learn from the mistakes here on the board and save some bucks by not following some of our examples! LOL

 

[Mark Hofman]

Jan:



Dittos on the congratulations offered by everyone so far! You are gonna love the TV-18. I think it's great bang-for-the-buck, exceeded only (maybe) by the Avalanche.



To answer your questions - yes, use the safety strap! I took the photo below showing that both hooks will fit the bow eye. What may help is to release the winch strap to take the pressure off of the winch strap and allow it to be re-positioned easily. Then, connect the safety strap and engage the winch. Tighten the winch strap with the winch and you're good to go!



I bought our TV-18 in November and here is what I learned about trimming it. From a dead standstill at idle...



1. Make sure your safety lanyard is connected to your PFD! Don't do ANYTHING until you are connected to the kill switch!!



2. Shift into forward gear and make sure that you are steering straight at idle.



3. Push the throttle forward smoothly, and fairly quickly. The bow will come up rapidly and you need to keep applying throttle until it drops back down. Don't back off on the throttle as the bow rises. It WILL drop, but how fast depends on how quickly you apply throttle.



4. Once the boat is up on plane, adjust your throttle until its around 4000 to 4200 rpms. (I avoid going full-tilt-boogie until I have it trimmed out a bit at this mid-range setting.)



5. Do NOT look at the trim gauge. Ignore it the first few times you take the boat out. Bump the tilt switch UP until the bow starts to bounce a bit (porpoising). When it does that, you know you've trimmed up TOO far. Bump the tilt down a couple of times until the bouncing stops. Another thing you will want to "feel" for is the pull on the steering wheel. You trim until the pull goes away and the steering is relatively neutral. Trimmed to far down will pull one way, trimmed too far up will pull the other way. The prop shaft needs to be parallel to the surface of the water to neutralize the torque steer. When you're not fighting to steer straight, it's the first sign that you're in the "sweet spot".



5. Once you've got it trimmed at 4000 to 4200 rpms, advance the throttle to full (after your break-in period is done!). Fiddle with the trim a bit until you can max out the rpms (on mine its about 5200). When the boat is trimmed correctly, you'll see a bit of a jump in speed, in rpms and no pull right or left on the steering wheel.



6. Do this a few times until you can find the full-throttle sweet spot without looking at the gauge. Once you can trim confidently without looking at the trim dial, glance down to see what it reads. Repeat this several times, and after awhile you'll be able to trim accurately by the needle.



Ask any question you want here. I've got a digital camera and can take all kinds of pictures to help you visualize stuff about your boat. Andy and Marke are also good sources of information. Andy answered a lot of my questions when I first brought the boat home.



Have fun! And welcome to the board!



MO

 

[Andrew Zuber]

OK...

Now I'm feeling jipped!

I'm assuming your trailers 'came' with the safety strap???

Waaaaa

I've got an ugly hunk of 1 inch rope I had laying around...



az

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Hey MO...

I've got that exact same old sticker residue in the same spot...been wondering what would work to take it off without taking the paint with it...my wife swears by "Goo-Gone", but I don't know if it's safe for the paint...



az

 

[Mark Hofman]

As you can tell by the sticker, my thumbnail didn't do the trick. I also tried WD-40, but that didn't work either.



And, yes, the boat came with the strap. Yours didn't?

 

[Andrew Zuber]

nope...

no strap...

that one looks nice...

I wonder if this is a "call Craig" part...lol



az

 

[Mark Hofman]

Yes, I'll bet Craig has 'em and that he'll even ship them to you direct. But I'd ask him for the 10% discount, since Tracker didn't put it on your trailer to begin with! LOL.

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Dang...

I was hoping it would be 'free' for the same reason! hahaha



By the way...

How does it attach at the bottom???



az

 

[Mark Hofman]

There is an eye on the trailer frame that a second hook attaches to.

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Is it 'snug' enough that the bottom hook doesn't bounce around on the painted surface of the trailer???



sorry to bug,

az

 

[Mark Hofman]

No problem. In short, yes. The bottom hook does not bounce around, at least not that I've seen. I should've taken the photo from a different angle so that you can see how its attached. If you want, I can get another photo tonight, showing the lower hook and eye.

 

[Marke Cicero]

Andy,



My boat came with the safety strap too, so I think you got jipped. The strap is not "snug" and the hooks can bounce around. I have the galvi trailer so I'm not worried about paint. I have been thinking aoubout purchasing and adjustable strap so I can tighten it. I heard (or read) that the winch strap should not be used to secure a boat. Any thoughts on that??



Marke

 

[Mark Hofman]

Check out the Grab Bag project (prototype page) below! Input is welcome.
http://www.stlhofman.com/lidsnlocks.htm

 

[Marke Cicero]

I don't know if it bounces for sure. What I meant was that the strap is not tight, so there is the ability to bounce.



Marke

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Hey Marke...

According to the literature from the trailer manufacturer and the winch namufacturer...

The winch is not to be used to pull the boat onto the trailer, only to secure it once it is loaded...the trailer is a drive-on trailer, they say, so that the winch is not needed...

I hardly ever power load my boat (first off, Jake is usually the one driving onto the trailer!)...our water levels are fairly low here and power loading just causes too much damage to the ramp...

So, I think you're good to go securing it with the winch!



az

 

[TrepMan]

Andy - You mentioned concern taking the sticker off might effect the paint - I thought the TV-18, like my 175, only has stickers and bare aluminium? Is yours painted and if so what color?

 

[Andrew Zuber]

I could be wrong (just ask my wife - just joking honey), but if you look at MO's pic above, the lower half of the TV-18 is painted silver...I know its paint because I have already noticed where it is wearing off where the boat sits/rubs on the bunks.



az

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Thanks MO



Not sure that I'll order one yet...

Maybe Craig will send me one for free! ahahahaha



My 1 inch rope tied to that eye on trailer just doesn't look very "professional"...

"Cheap" more like it! lol



az

 

[Mike Levesque]

janvan, congrats on the boat, although i don't have that model, ( i have a 2002 pro deep v 16), i remember the ear to ear grin, (picked ours up march 16th), actually, still grinning, hehe.



since everyone else pretty much covered the trim and strap topic, I'll just wish you many, many years of enjoyment, and great fishing, enjoy! Mike

 

[Bill McElroy]

Andy,..."GOO-Gone" is fine,...it's just BESTINE,...we used it years ago to thin rubber cement and clean off mylar prior to ink tracing drawings...........it won't harm your boat's paint at all.......i used it to take the residue off my boats windshield after i removed some stickers,.....go ahead and use it...you're fine!!

We also used it to clean off residue on aluminum PRIOR to painting when I worked summer jobs at the Meyer's Boat/Canoe plants.

Mac

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Thanks Mac...

Now the really bad part...

I'll have to tell my wife she was right about the Goo-Gone!

hahaha



az

 

[Bill McElroy]

It's a "chick-thing" Andy,.......my wife has a bottle on the counter too,...ahaah...and I used it for my windshield the other nite!! I took a whiff of it, and when I realized it was just bestine,....I went down into my studio "stash" down stairs and dug out my 10yr old can of the stuff,.....presto-whammo!!

clean windshield in seconds!!! LOL.....and I didn't empty the wife's little bottle,..so she's happy too!!

Mac

 

[Andrew Zuber]

I think it has alot to do with an associated 4-letter word...K-I-D-S!!!

Let's see...bubble gum (by far the largest useage), pine tree sap, stickers stuck on furniture...

The list goes on and on...



az

 

[Bill McElroy]

LOL....no doubt!!...pine tree sap,...that's good!!

 

[Jan Van Bennekum]

Thanks everyone for all the good wishes.



I have the 90HP motor on the boat. At my age speed is not as important as longevity. <g>



I was able to work both the Safety strap and winch strap onto the bow fitting. The picture was a great help. That's not very easy and probably best not attempted on the launch ramp.



The info on trim was great, just what I was looking for.



Now if the weather would only cooperate I can get on the water. We have had a spell either rain/thunderstorms or high winds. Today it's 15-20 MPH with 2 foot seas. Not something I want to try on my first launch.



Jan

 

[Andrew Zuber]

Good thinking Jan!



Don't ever hesitate to post questions on this board...

Someone is always around to help!

Gotta love that TV-18!



If you haven't had it out yet, one piece of advice on cold starting...Hold the choke (ignition key) IN for a good 5 to 7 seconds when starting...If it fires, be ready to push the key in again to keep her running until she warms up...You'll see many posts about the "cold-blooded" nature of the 90hp...Once she warms up though, you'll be happy!

Give me a yell if you have other questions!



az

 

[Jan Van Bennekum]

I'm a bit confused about this. The fellow who gave me the run thru said to pump the key (choke) 10 times. I've seen mesages where you should hold it in for 5 to 10 seconds.



Do both actions get the same end result?



Is this a choke or are you primeing the engine?



Can the engine be flooded?



Jan

 

[Andrew Zuber]

This might be best left up to Bob, but what I believe I saw on a post here was that the switch is actually a "primer", not a true "choke"...

Experiment with it...I just know that what my dealer told me did not work...I had to push it much more than they said...I have not had a problem with flooding...



az

 

[Marke Cicero]

Jan / Andy,

I have found that I get better results when I pump vs. hold. 4 to 5 times just about does it for me.



Marke